Choton wants more international matches

National women's team coach Golam Rabbani Choton believes his charges have overcome the fear of playing against mighty opponents after a first-time runners-up finish in the SAFF Women's Championship recently.

Bangladesh played bravely throughout the tournament and held eventual champions India to a goalless draw in the group stages before finally losing against them in the final. They outplayed foreign-player studded Afghanistan 6-0 in the group stages and outclassed Maldives by identical margin in the semifinal.

“We have been getting success more or less at junior level, but we still can't do it at the senior level. However, becoming runners-up in the SAFF Women's Championship is one kind of success as our squad had 15 players from the under-16 squad,” Choton said yesterday after returning home late on Thursday night.    

“Having watched the matches of India and Afghanistan, we switched our playing style from the one we adopted during the AFC U-16 Championship Qualifiers. The girls carried out my game plan in the new style properly,” Choton evaluated. “I think the girls have got rid of the fear of playing against mighty opponents.”

Choton believes that his charges have improved tactically, physically and technically. He felt the relative inexperience, pressure of playing the final and in front of a partisan crowd were the factors behind the final collapse. Throughout the tournament, Choton's playing eleven featured three senior players alongside eight players from the under-16 players, who were the key pillars of his side.

“Players like Krishna Rani, Sirat Jahan Swapna, Misrat Jahan Mousumi, Maria Manda, Masura Parvin, Sheuli Azim, Shamsunnhar and Nargis Akter -- who are from the under-16 team, played tremendously well throughout the tournament,” the successful women's coach said. “They delivered what I had asked from them.”

Choton however feels the team can improve further. “Except for Bhutan, the other teams came to the tournament with good preparation and having played practice matches while we went without having played any practice match. We did pretty well despite that, however, if we want to see further improvement, we must play a lot of international matches,” opined Choton.

The coach informed that the under-16 team's training camp will resume within a few days as the players have been given rest till Sunday. 

“Teams like Japan, Australia and Korea cannot be compared with teams like India, Maldives and Afghanistan, but I can assure you that our girls will not play bad football in the AFC U-16 Championship in Thailand as they have been improving gradually and we still have eight months in hand,” said Choton.